Walter Brasch: The President didn’t even worry about whether Texans liked him or not, even though a majority of that state’s politicians think of him as incompetent, evil, and—horrors!—a firebreathing Muslim.

RJ Eskow: After a week spent tracking the independent left’s political progress, I’ve become even more convinced that politicians should seek the soul of the country instead. Tap into that, and the rest will follow.

Brent Budowsky: American liberalism is at the peak of its power during presidential elections, and nothing better dramatizes the resurgent liberal answer to the conservative challenge than the words and teachings of Pope Francis, the most admired public figure in America and throughout the world.

Dyson vs. West: Black ‘leaders’ have never agreed on everything – and that’s OK an’t we all just get along? Better yet, when it comes to black intellectuals, can’t we agree to disagree? After all, it’s not as if black leaders and thinkers always have agreed on everything. In an extensive essay in The New […]

Mitchell Lerner: Regardless of the specific details of the Great Society programs, the ideology that lay behind them speaks volumes about the American conception of the role of government, and offers lessons for the contemporary Democratic Party that seem to have been forgotten.

Peter Dreier: In his new autobiography, Frank reveals how he decided to come out of the closet as a gay man, the impact that decision had on his political career, and his subsequent efforts to advance LGBT rights along with other progressive causes

Peter Dreier: Contrary to what the students claim, the American flag does not signify conformity. The ways we express our patriotism are as diverse as our nation. How one expresses one’s patriotism depends on the core values one associates with the United States.

Los Angeles

Michael Krikorian: There may be more doomed locales in town – the coroner’s identification room, a hospice where the only hope is that the end will soon come – but, for a mass gathering of gloom, nothing beats the CJ crowd on a Sunday.